Two congressmen are introducing legislation that will legalize marijuana and allow states to legislate its use. The legislation would limit the federal government’s role in marijuana enforcement to cross-border or inter-state smuggling, and allow people to legally grow, use or sell marijuana in states where it is legal.

This comes as researchers are learning more about how marijuana affects the brains of chronic users, with specific focus on how the drug affects the decision-making process.

In a game involving putting money at risk, “The marijuana users appear to have a blunted response to losing. They don’t figure out a strategy to avoid monetary losses and this is associated with a decreased functional brain response to the early, negative information that guides the other group to safer choices,” said Michael J. Wesley, Ph.D., department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Wake Forest Baptist. “The bottom line is that it looks like they don’t care as much if they lose.”

The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) reported last December that regular marijuana use is on the rise among teenagers, citing an increase of more than 10 percent in students in 8th, 10th and 12th grade.